Main menu

Puerto Rican Republican Rep. Raúl Labrador Supports Statehood Bill

Rep. Raúl Labrador, a Republican from Idaho, is one of three voting members of Congress to be born in Puerto Rico. Labrador was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, while Democrat José Serrano was born in Mayagüez and Democrat Nydia Velázquez was born in Yabucoa. Since Labrador is the only Republican in Congress with birth ties to Puerto Rico, his views about the latest statehood bill presented by Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi (D), a non-voting member of Congress, matter. Getting Labrador to offer his full support of H.R. 2000 would make a big difference in Pierluisi’s push to make Puerto Rico the 51st state of the Union.

This week, Labrador, who was that supportive of last year’s status plebiscite on the island, shared his thoughts about Pierluisi’s bill, said he would vote YAY to H.R. 2000, but he won’t be that involved in getting fellow Republicans to vote YAY with him.

“I have a lot of things to do. But if the bill gets to the floor, I would vote in favor of it,” Labrador said in Spanish. According the END, Labrador thought that Pierluisi’s bill was a “good idea.”

Pierluisi’s bill has 34 co-sponsors, including Pierluisi. A handful of those co-sponsors are Republicans. Besides Pierluisi, Serrano is the only other official of Puerto Rican descent who is a co-sponsor of the bill. Here is the full list of co-sponsors:

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland

Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska (yes, the “wetback” guy)

Democratic Rep. José Serrano of New York

Republican Rep. Peter King of New York

Democratic Rep. George Miller of California

Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida

Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida

Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio

Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel of New York

Eni Faleomavaega, the non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from American Samoa

Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia

Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida

Republican Rep. John Mica of Florida

Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida

Democratic Rep. Chaka Fattah of Pennsylvania

Democratic Rep. Ron Kind of Wisconsin

Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley of New York

Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida

Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona

Madeleine Bordallo, the non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from Guam

Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota

Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida

Democratic Rep. Marcia Fudge of Ohio

Republican Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois

Gregorio Sablan, the non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida

Democratic Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado

Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida

Democratic Rep. Federica Wilson of Florida

Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia of Florida

Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire

If passed, H.R. 2000 would authorize Congress and the White House to establish an admission process for Puerto Rico as the 51st state, if a majority of Puerto Rican voters choose statehood. Pierluisi said the following about Labrador, “Although Labrador has not joined the bill so far, I will not assume that he wouldn’t do so in the future.” Labrador, because he is a Republican, is seen as key representative if he becomes more vocal in his support. The same goes for Illinois Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D), who right now believes the bill is slanted towards a statehood option.